At least four ancient, exquisite idols of deities, made of traditional five-metal alloys (panchaloha), were unearthed during the construction work of additional classrooms at the government high school at Kambarnatham village in Ammapettai panchayat.

Construction workers were digging about 10 feet into the ground with the help of an excavator at the school premises last night when they stumbled upon a three foot tall idol of Nataraja, two and a half foot tall idols of goddess Amman, two foot tall idol of Chandikeswarar and one and a half foot tall idol of Thirugnanasambandar.

On being informed, Papanasam tahsildar S Thirumal and other revenue officials rushed to the spot to inspect the idols and moved them to the Papanasam taluk office for safekeeping.

Meanwhile, Komagan, a noted researcher and architect, has opined that these panchaloha idols are from the Chola era and they could belong to the Siva temple constructed by 11th century ruler Rajendran Chola’s grandson Veeramahendran at Kambarnatham village.